Mechanism for edge staining leather and the like



M FOR EDGE STAINING LEATHER AND THE LIKE Aug; 22, 1939. s. E. ROSENBERGMECHANIS Filed NOV. 9, 1936 Patented Aug. 22, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFIQE MECHANISM FOR EDGE ST'AINING LEATHER AND THE LIKE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for staining the edges of pieces ofsheet material and is more particularly directed to the edge-staining ofpieces of leather such as used for shoe upper 5 parts.

In the manufacture of shoe uppers, the various parts, such as Vamps,tips and foxing, are cut or died out from suitable skins which have beenpreviously colored and finished as desired.

The pieces thus cut out usually have edges which differ in color fromthe face of the leather since the dyes employed in coloring leatherusually do not penetrate through the leather. In order to improve theappearance of the finished shoe hav- 3 ing upper parts of dyed orcolored leather, it is usually desirable to color or strain the edges ofthe upper parts after they have been cut from the skin. This is usuallydone by applying stain to the edges of the leather pieces manually witha brush.

' It is an object of the present invention to provide means by which thestain can be applied more rapidly and evenly than has heretofore beenpossible. According to the invention, a

, movable surface, such as the periphery of a freely rotatable roller,is provided for engagement by the work. Stain is supplied to the rollerby suitable means which are controllable during the operation of themechanism. The roller may be driven solely by engagement with the edgesof the work presented for contact therewith, the work being moved pastthe roller manually. For staining the edges of thin soft material whichmay be too limp to drive the roller satisfactorily, the roller may bedriven either positvely or by light frictional engagement with suitabledrive means, the roller being readily rotatable by contact with theperiphery independently of the movement of the drive means.

Various advantageous features of structure will be apparent to oneskilled in the art from the following description of an embodiment ofthe invention, such embodiment being illustrated upon the drawing ofwhich Figure l is a side elevation of mechanism embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the mechanismshown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig- 118 1, a piece of workbeing shown in this figure.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view simiar to a portion of Figure 4but showing a wing 'ip with pinked edges.

As indicated on the drawing, the mechanism may comprise a roller i D ofsuitable soft resilient material, sponge rubber being preferred. Thisroller of sponge rubber is held between a pair of disks l2 and M, theroller and the disks being 5 mounted on a hollow shaft it which isclosed at its lower end as at 18 so as to bear upon an antifrictionbearing element such as a ball 20. The disks !2 and M are adjustablealong the shaft and are secured in adjusted position by any suitablemeans such as set screws l5 through the hub portions. By adjustingeither disk toward or from the other, the density or compactness of theroller Iii may be increased or diminished as may be desired for use ondifferent kinds of work. Thus the roller it may be suitably conditionedfor use on leather pieces having either plain edges or pinked edges. Inthe latter case, a softer roller is desirable so that the roller surfacecan more readily enter the recesses in the pinked edges. The shaft I6and the ball 20 are supported by a suitable base 22 which may beprovided with an overhanging arm 24 terminating in a forked end portion26 which serves as an upper bearing for the shaft it. end of the shaftmay be retained in position as by a locking piece 30 (Figure 2) whichcan readily be swung aside to permit the removal of the shaft from itssupport.

Mounted on the base 22 is a horizontal work 30 table 32. This work tablemay be of any desired shape such as that indicated in Figure 4, thetable having in any event an edge portion 34 which is adjacent to theperiphery of the roller I 0 so that a piece of work W may be laid upon 5the table 32 and may be manually pushed into edgewise engagement withthe periphery of the roller iii. If desired, a guide element 35 may beadjustably mounted above the portion of the table adjacent to the edge34. This guide element as indicated in Figures 4 and 5, is an elongatedblock or strip over the margin of the table adjacent to the roller 5 0,the spacing between the guide element and the table being adjustable byslacking off on a setscrew 4! which normally 4,5 secures a vertical stem43 by which the guide element 36 is supported. This guide element is notnecessary in all cases but is useful in the case of shoe parts whichhave become bent or wrinkled.

According to the invention, means are provided for supplying stain. orother suitable coloring matter, preferably liquid, to the peripheralsurface of the roller I 9. For convenience, such stain, dye, or othercoloring matter as may be The upper used in treating the edges of thework is hereinafter referred to in the specification and claims as ink,it being understood that this term is used to mean any substance whichmay be desired for use in treating the edges of the work, whether forthe purpose of coloring such edges or for any other reason. Above theroller H] is located a suitable reservoir 4H adapted to contain a supplyof ink. This reservoir, which may be in the form of a cup or othersuitable vessel and which is preferably supplied with a suitable cover42, communicates with a hollow stem 4 which projects downwardy therefromand which is preferably closed at its lower end as at MB. This stem Mtelescopes within the hollow shaft l6 and has a close sliding fittherewith. The shaft is is provided with one or more lateral apertures58 through its wall, such apertures being preferably disposedimmediately below the upper disk l2 so as to communicate with a centralcavity 52 Within the upper end of the roller ID. This cavity mayconveniently be formed and maintained by a washer 5 3 which looselysurrounds the shaft Hi and which is pressed downwardly away from thedisk l2 by a series of pins 56, thus compressing the central portion ofthe soft roller W to a greater degree than the peripheral portion iscompressed by the disk l2. If the disk M- or the disk I2 is adjustedrelatively to the other to alter the density of the roller Ill, suchcompression occurs between the disk i l and the washer 54, and the upperend portion of the roller H] is affected little, if any. Thus thecompression of the main portion of the roll does not constrict or closethe pores in the upper portion of the roller through which ink issupplied to the surface of the roller as hereinafter described. Theapertures 59 are normally closed by the stem 44, as indicated in Figure3. The stem is provided with one or more lateral apertures 69 which openinto a shallow annular channel 62 extending around the stem 54. Thischannel 62 is normally below the apertures 50 in the shaft E5. Thereservoir ii! and the stem may, however, be lifted at will to bring thechannel 62 into registry with the apertures 50, in which case ink mayflow from the reservoir down through the hollow stem M and through theapertures Ell and 58 into the cavity 52. From the cavity 52 the inkworks radially outward through the pores in the upper end of the rollerIE). Thus the peripheral surface of the roller in may be supplied withink as desired, the supply being controlled by vertical movement of thestem M. To effect such movement of the reservoir and stem, a lever 64may be mounted as at 55 on the arm 24, this lever having a forked end 68which embraces the stem 44 loosely just below the reservoir MS. Theremote end of the lever may be attached to a rod or strand in which inturn may be connected to a treadle or other convenient device by whichthe lever E l may be rocked to elevate the reservoir 40 and its stem M.

Owing to the use of an anti-friction step bearing for supporting theshaft it, this shaft is ,freely rotatable by contact of the work on theperiphery of the roller Ill, the work being moved manually past theroller and tangent thereto as it is slid on the work table 32. Thus thecontour edges of the work may be rapidly moved along in contact with theperiphery of the roller so that the edges are completely andsatisfactorily stained. As indicated in Figure 4, parts of the shoeuppers, such as wing tips, customarily have curved contours, some ofthese curves being concave. The roller I0 is preferably made with such aradius as to fit loosely into the concave edge portions of the workwhich have the sharpest curvature. Thus the work may be moved past theroller and its contour edges may progressively engage the surface of theroller in unbroken continuity without the necessity of turning the Workitself on the table. This adds to the convenience and rapidity of theoperation of edge-staining shoe upper parts such as Vamps and wing tips.

Ordinarily the engagement of the edges of the moving pieces of work withthe periphery of the roller H3 is sufiicient to rotate the rollertogether with the shaft IS, the stem 44 and the reservoir All. In thecase of thin limp pieces of soft leath er, it may be desirable to drivethe roller. To this end, a pulley wheel 18 may be secured on the shaftl5 for positively driving the roller IE1, or the stem 44 may be providedwith a pulley wheel 80, which, if desired, may comprise a portion of thereservoir 40, this wheel being adapted to receive a suitable drivingbelt (not shown). The rotation of the stem 44 results in a frictionaldrive of the shaft l6 and of the roller I0 owing to the light frictionalengagement of the stem within the shaft I6. The stem 44 is preferablydriven at a speed corresponding to the average speed of movement of theedge of the work past the roller. The roller is thus driven at theproper speed for engagement with the Work, thus eliminating dependenceon the work for driving the roller. The frictional engagement betweenthe stem 44 and the shaft [6 is, however,

preferably light, so that, if the rate of movement of the edge of thework past the roller is faster or slower than the driven rate ofrotation of the roller, the roller will readily slip to accommodateitself to the speed of the work.

Various modifications and changes may be made in the specific embodimentof the invention herein illustrated and described without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a horizontal work table,a roller of soft yielding material mounted to revolve freely on avertical axis adjacent to an edge of said table, a hollow vertical shaftextending through said roller, said shaft being closed at its lower endand opening above said roller into an ink reservoir, said shaft alsohaving lateral apertures communicating with the interior of said roller,valve means for controlling the fiow of ink through said apertures, andmeans for operating said valve when the roller is in use.

2. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a freely rotatableroller of soft resilient material, drive means having a light frictionalconnection with said roller whereby the roller may be rotated normallyby said drive means and may be independently rotated by peripheralengagement with manually moved work.

3. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a hollow rotatable shaftclosed at its lower end and provided with a lateral aperture, a sofiresilient roller on said shaft registering with saic aperture so as toreceive ink therethrough, ar anti-friction bearing for said shaft, anink reservoir above said shaft having a downwardly extending hollow stemtelescoping within th shaft and in light frictional engagement therewith, and drive means for rotating said stem.

4. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a frame, a horizontalwork table on said frame, a sponge rubber roller rotatably mountedadjacent to said table, a hollow vertical shaft through said roller, ananti-friction bearing on said shaft, and means for supplying ink to saidroller through said shaft.

5. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a hollow vertical shafthaving a lateral aperture and closed at its. lower end, an anti-frictionstep bearing at the lower end of said shaft, a pair of disks secured tosaid shaft with said aperture between them, a roller of soft resilientmaterial on said shaft between said disks, and a washer on said shaftbelow the upper of said disks pressing the inner portion of the rolleraway from said upper disk so as to form a cavity within said roller,said disks and washer being arranged so that said lateral aperture inthe shaft communicates with said cavity.

6. Mechanism of the class described, comprising a hollow vertical shaftclosed at its lower end and provided with a lateral aperture, a pair ofdisks secured to said shaft with a roller of soft resilient materialbetween them, said roller having a central cavity therein about theportion of the shaft immediately below the upper of said disks, thedisks and roller being arranged so that the aperture communicates withsaid cavity, and means for supplying" ink to the interior of said shaft.

STIG E. ROSENBERG.

